Spirit Kite Douluo looked around. This forest felt both familiar and strange to her.
She looked toward Yan Shaozhe and the others, who were standing ready, and asked in a slightly hoarse, dry voice:
"Who... are you people? And where... is this place?"
This question stunned Yan Shaozhe, Zhang Lexuan, and the others.
They had never expected that after regaining her sanity, the opponent would ask such a nearly... ignorant question.
Yan Shaozhe's mind raced. Evil Soul Masters of the Titled Douluo level were extremely rare, and he attempted to extract information:
"I am Yan Shaozhe of Shrek Academy. Your Excellency is a Titled Douluo; why play games? Which organization do you belong to?"
"Shrek Academy? Organization?"
A trace of confusion flashed in Spirit Kite Douluo's eyes. She had heard of Shrek Academy, but how could Shrek Academy possess such a powerful Titled Douluo?
An ominous premonition arose in her heart, and she hurriedly pressed on: "Is Spirit Hall... still standing? What year is it in the Spirit Hall calendar?"
"Spirit Hall?!"
As soon as she spoke, not only Yan Shaozhe, but even Xu Jiujiu and Man Yi beside Caelus showed expressions of extreme astonishment.
Ma Xiaotao, being straightforward, couldn't help but say:
"Spirit Hall was destroyed ten thousand years ago! Now the continent is in the age of Empires; there's no such thing as a Spirit Hall calendar anymore!"
"Ten thousand years... destroyed..."
Spirit Kite Douluo's body swayed slightly, her scarlet eyes filled with disbelief and a sense of temporal disorientation.
She murmured, "What about the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire?"
"The Heaven Dou Empire long ago split into the Heaven Soul and Dou Ling Empires, standing alongside the Star Luo Empire."
Zhang Lexuan added, her tone calm, as she keenly sensed that something was gravely wrong.
This information, which was common knowledge to contemporary Soul Masters, sounded profoundly out of place coming from her mouth.
Connecting this to the fact that she had emerged from the ground, covered in Death Qi, a ridiculous yet seemingly the only possible explanation exploded like thunder in Yan Shaozhe's mind—
This "person" before them was not an Evil Soul Master at all... She was likely an ancient person... resurrected from ten thousand years ago?! An Undead... possessing memories from her former life?!
This thought caused even the knowledgeable Bright Phoenix Douluo to feel a chill run down his spine, his pupils constricting violently.
Resurrection was already a miracle, but recovering after crossing ten thousand years of time was unheard of.
Unless she was a legendary, immortal Divinity, how could this be possible... The atmosphere of the battlefield suddenly shifted from a life-and-death struggle to an eerie silence.
An undead soul from ten thousand years ago and the contemporary era's peak powerhouses had completed a horrifying, time-spanning dialogue within the Star Dou Great Forest.
Learning from Yan Shaozhe and the others that Spirit Hall had vanished ten thousand years ago, and that she herself had been dormant for such a long time, Spirit Kite Douluo was plunged into deep confusion.
Ten thousand years had passed; the World had undergone tremendous changes. All her old acquaintances were now dust, and the World held no trace of anything familiar to her.
But the instinct for survival instantly overcame this daze.
She clearly sensed that besides the powerful Yan Shaozhe before her, another Titled Douluo-level aura had appeared nearby. Moreover, Yan Shaozhe's undisguised killing intent and Bright Soul Power caused sharp pangs in her deathly silent body.
"I must leave!"
This thought rang like an alarm bell in her mind.
Having returned from an eternal slumber and gained a second life, even as a Nirvana Corpse, she absolutely did not want her existence to end here so easily.
With her thoughts racing, Spirit Kite Douluo hesitated no longer. The Death Qi around her erupted, and her figure transformed into a dark-red stream of light that warped space, accelerating without hesitation toward the deeper reaches of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Her speed was far greater than before.
"Trying to run? Stay!"
How could Yan Shaozhe allow her to escape?
This resurrected Undead harbored too many secrets, and her very existence posed a huge threat to the World of the living.
Having already detected the arrival of Nebula Douluo Man Yi, he shouted without hesitation:
"Your Excellency Nebula, please help me detain this fiend! This creature is absolutely not benign; she is a resurrected Undead and must not be allowed to roam the World."
Nebula Douluo Man Yi, who had already received a signal from Xu Jiujiu, immediately responded: "This old woman understands."
A light flashed in her hand, and a magnificent Nebula Fan, seemingly condensed from countless fragmented stars, appeared in her grasp.
Her figure flickered, instantly appearing in the path of Spirit Kite Douluo's escape. She gently fanned the Nebula Fan toward the Void Realm ahead.
"Fifth Spirit Ability: Star River Barrier."
In an instant, the space ahead seemed to be twisted by an invisible force. Countless brilliant starlight emerged out of thin air, like a miniature Milky Way descending from the sky, spanning across the forest.
The starlight flowed, forming an incredibly tough energy barrier that not only blocked the path but also emitted a powerful gravitational pull, attempting to slow and confine Spirit Kite Douluo's figure.
At the same time, Yan Shaozhe moved.
He knew how troublesome this resurrected Undead was, and holding nothing back, his seventh spirit ring suddenly lit up.
"Martial Soul Avatar!"
A loud Phoenix cry echoed through the sky. Yan Shaozhe's figure vanished, replaced by a Bright Phoenix with a wingspan exceeding ten meters, its entire body burning with pure golden flames.
A sacred, majestic, and powerful Bright Qi spread out like a tsunami, causing the surrounding Death Qi to sizzle and burn. Large patches of forest spontaneously combusted, only to be instantly purified into ash by the pure Bright energy.
The Bright Phoenix flapped its wings, reaching extreme speed. Striking later but arriving first, it instantly caught up behind Spirit Kite Douluo. A gigantic Phoenix claw, entirely condensed from Bright flames and carrying the will to purify all evil, fiercely clawed down like Mount Tai pressing upon her.
"Sixth Spirit Ability: Phoenix Cloud Penetrating Strike."
With the Star River Barrier blocking the front and the Bright Phoenix delivering a killing blow from behind, the combined attack of two Titled Douluo was earth-shattering.
A fierce glint flashed in Spirit Kite Douluo's scarlet eyes. She let out a shriek, and the nine spirit rings around her flashed wildly, pushing her Death Qi and Soul Power to their absolute limit.
Instead of dodging, she turned, launching both palms simultaneously. Dense, dark-red Death Qi intertwined with flames, forming a destructive torrent that met Yan Shaozhe's Phoenix Cloud Penetrating Strike head-on.
"Boom—!!!!!"
It was like two meteors colliding.
The golden and dark-red energy storm instantly exploded, forming a massive energy sphere over a hundred meters in diameter, which then violently expanded and burst.
The terrifying energy shockwave spread outward frantically in a ring shape.
Everything in its path, whether it was towering ancient trees requiring several people to embrace or hard mountain rocks, was instantly crushed and vaporized.
The earth seemed to have been violently plowed by the invisible shockwave, leaving a massive crater dozens of meters deep. The soil at the bottom of the pit had vitrified, emitting thick plumes of smoke.
However, the cost of taking Yan Shaozhe's full-power strike head-on was immense.